Afghanistan crisis makes me ashamed to be British – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Mike Baldwin, Raven Road, Nether Edge, Sheffield.
.Handout photo dated 20/08/21 issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of members of the British and US military engaged in the evacuation of people out of Kabul, Afghanistan..Handout photo dated 20/08/21 issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of members of the British and US military engaged in the evacuation of people out of Kabul, Afghanistan.
.Handout photo dated 20/08/21 issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of members of the British and US military engaged in the evacuation of people out of Kabul, Afghanistan.

AT the recall of Parliament for the debate on Afghanistan, only three Conservative MPs wore face masks (The Yorkshire Post, August 19). This was despite the Speaker’s request and Government guidance stating that ‘face coverings should be worn in enclosed and crowded spaces’.

Most opposition MPs wore masks. No doubt the decision not to wear masks had been made by Boris Johnson who hoped for the good old days of howling approval for his bravado and braying scorn at the opposition.

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What he got was silence. It was the silence of shame: shame at the loss of our soldiers’ lives and those of the Afghan people for such little gain; shame for the lack of foresight and planning; shame that when the Taliban were rapidly over-running the country, our Prime Minister went on holiday and our Foreign Secretary thought it unnecessary to return from sunning himself in Crete, even seemingly, refusing to take a phone call to help those Afghans who had helped us.

.Handout photo dated 20/08/21 issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of members of the British and US military engaged in the evacuation of people out of Kabul, Afghanistan..Handout photo dated 20/08/21 issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of members of the British and US military engaged in the evacuation of people out of Kabul, Afghanistan.
.Handout photo dated 20/08/21 issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of members of the British and US military engaged in the evacuation of people out of Kabul, Afghanistan.

It was shame for the sheer incompetence of a government mired in continual incompetence. It is a shame for which we should all wish to cover our faces.

From: Dick Lindley, Altofts, Normanton.

THE unfolding tragedy in Afghanistan will fill the hearts minds of all decent English folks with sadness and pity for the people of that country, who are about to be plunged into a maelstrom of brutal medieval laws and religious intolerance.

My questions to our politicians of all parties, many of whom spoke so eloquently and passionately in the House of Commons the other day calling for resettling thousands of Afghanistan refugees in our country, are as follows.

File photo dated 06/06/21 of former prime minister Tony Blair, who sent UK troops into Afghanistan 20 years ago, and who has now said Britain has a "moral obligation" to stay until "all those who need to be are evacuated".File photo dated 06/06/21 of former prime minister Tony Blair, who sent UK troops into Afghanistan 20 years ago, and who has now said Britain has a "moral obligation" to stay until "all those who need to be are evacuated".
File photo dated 06/06/21 of former prime minister Tony Blair, who sent UK troops into Afghanistan 20 years ago, and who has now said Britain has a "moral obligation" to stay until "all those who need to be are evacuated".

Where will you accommodate 20,000 extra people?

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How will you ensure that our schools can handle this influx of children?

How can you be certain that our wonderful but overstretched NHS will cope with the extra demands that will be imposed on it?

From: Otto Inglis, Crossgates, Fife.

WHICH lesson of history will we repeat at Kabul airport, where flights are only possible by the acquiescence of the Taliban?

Will the media-savvy Islamists put us through a surrender and a repeat of the Iranian hostages’ crisis of 1979 to 1981?

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Or will it be a promise of safe evacuation by land then a massacre, as happened to Major General Elphinstone’s army on the road to Gandamak in 1842?

We are past a military solution to this problem. Bring our soldiers home within hours not days.

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

BORIS Johnson and Dominic Raab have been severely criticised over their handling of the Afghanistan crisis.

Will someone enlighten me as to just what they could have done to ease the situation?

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As far as I can see, this country was helpless. If anyone should be criticised, it should be Tony Blair for getting us involved in the first place.

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